Jay, great question. Are you using no-hole tray? How full did you fill the trays? You would need to fill them full to get the depth needed to sustain the growing lettuce.

I I did use a no-hole tray. I filled it up to the 1/4-1/2 an inch from the top. The lettuce grew just fine in that shallow soil. I did sprinkle the seeds a little thicker than I needed, but there would be a learning curve.

I am going to start some more and see how they do in the tunnel this week.

Jay

I have some trays with holes in them that I would probably use, to have better drainage. Also have some rib trays, so that could have 2 different varieties. Then I would put the holey tray into the no hole.

Keep us posted, I'm very interested. This might be something for late in the season for customers also.

Tell your wife to keep thinking.

Jay,

I thought about this, but haven't followed through.

I did build a shallow wood box. Filled it with lettuce, spinach and some asian greens. Donated it to a silent auction. The highest bid was $95.00. This makes me think I should build more salad boxes for the Farmers Market. Not sure what price to put on them. Pallets are free and some look really nice after running through the thickness planer. Oak and other hard woods. These would be for people without gardens. They could sit right on the back porch.

Similar idea

Eric

I have sold 4" pots of mixed heirloom lettuce and arugula. There is some interest in such but far more interest in cut, washed and bagged salad mix.

Not to mention it is a lot easier and cheaper to plant salad greens in the ground (and they over winter very well in unheated hoop houses) and harvest pounds rather than keep flats alive under lights and harvest/sell ounces. I know there are a few folks out there who will pay top dollar for such a set up and some of them may even be successful in keeping the living salad alive for several weeks. but i see this market as very limited and you may lose some customers if anyone figures out they can do the same thing for a lot less.

Boulderbelt,

We also sell in 4" pots @ 1.50 to 2.00 each. About 750 pots our first year. Compare that to mixed salad greens @ 6.00 1/2 pound. I agree the mixed greens is the market.

It's true, you could grab a cardboard box a little dirt and 2.00 salad seed mix and put us all out of business. Some people are to lazy, busy, or it's below them to do it.

Eric

I sell trays and 6 packs of lettuce, cabbage, and mixes. I offer the 6 packs at 2.50 each (they are the smaller sized 6 packs that fit in the 1020 trays). I offer the entire flat for 25.00. I have done really well with them this season so far.

There's a local grower who only grows and sells micro greens. He's mostly wholesale, but is open to the public 2 days a week. He also sells at the local farmers market on Saturdays. The greens are packaged and sold in clear plastic containers. He grows year round in a couple of greenhouses. I've never visited his business, but by the pic on his website it looks like he grows in 1020 flats.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grower of Micro Greens